What will John Wooden most be remembered for?

June 06, 2010|By Four Corners | Four views on today's issues

Attention to detail

David Wharton, Los Angeles Times

Socks and shoelaces -- that's what John Wooden should be remembered for. At the start of each season, Wooden put his UCLA players through a refresher course on smoothing their socks and carefully lacing their shoes to avoid blisters. He was all about the basics, notions that lasted beyond a game or two.

These precepts, dating back through his Midwestern childhood and his time as a high school English teacher, became the building blocks for his "Pyramid of Success." Just listen to former players, even difficult cases such as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Walton, talk about how the man prepared them to face the rest of their lives.

Wooden was as competitive as any coach who ever lived, he badly wanted to win, but he cared more about the players and teaching them to do things right.

Handled life with grace

David Teel, Newport News (Va.) Daily Press

Pinpointing John Wooden's most memorable trait is like picking Lew Alcindor's best game. There are just too many. But the overriding theme of Wooden's life was grace. Grace in victory and defeat. Grace as he retired, aged and died. With 10 national championships, more than double anyone else, Wooden was a legend. Yet he saw himself as anything but.

He welcomed visitors into his modest home and greeted fans at UCLA games. He spoke lovingly of his late wife, Nell, and doted on their grandchildren and great-grandchildren . He wrote poetry and read voraciously. In 1998, at age 87, Wooden traveled to Norfolk for the McDonald's High School All-American Game. For about 30 minutes we sat in a hotel lobby and chatted. It's the only interview tape I never erased.

V for victory, values

Shannon Ryan, Chicago Tribune

There are coaches in every sport today who extol the values of education, who apply the words character and family to their team.

Some talk about values. John Wooden exemplified them like no other coach.

He was a fierce competitor and a master of winning, a legacy none has touched in those departments. But Wooden executed his UCLA teams to perfection with humble deliveries and through positive motivation, reaching into young men's hearts, touching their minds and setting standards that made them better people.

Wooden, who died at age 99 on Friday, will never be forgotten for his 10 national championships and an unmatched streak of seven in a row from 1967 to 1973. But he has reached far more people through his words of wisdom, applicable to anyone wanting to achieve success, from a T-ball coach to a CEO.

Intensity and team work are buzzwords for many coaches. But how many coaches also stress friendship, class and self-control?

If everyone followed Wooden's pyramid of success and 12 lessons in leadership, yes, the basketball one, every campus would be pretty good.

But imagine what a world we would live in.

A revered class act

Andrew Carter, Orlando Sentinel

His program at UCLA accomplished more than any other in the history of college basketball, but John Wooden will most be remembered not for winning but for how he won and for how he affected the lives of the players he coached.

A lot of coaches serve as father figures for their players, of course, but Wooden went beyond that. He inspired his players to play their best for them while he was coaching them, and then he inspired them to greatness long after their final shot or rebound or assist. Nobody won with more class, it seemed, and nobody was revered more by the men he coached than Wooden.

There have been plenty of great coaches in college sports history, but perhaps none was loved as much or admired as much as Wooden.